A large and growing population of users enjoy entertainment through the consumption of digital media items, such as music, movies, images, electronic books, and so on. Users employ various electronic devices to consume such media items. Among these electronic devices are electronic book readers, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable media players, tablet computers, netbooks, and the like.
These electronic devices often include actuators to provide motion in the device, such as tactile feedback, vibration, or some other form of haptic response. Actuators are operated by a source of energy, such as an electric current, and convert that energy into some kind of motion. For example, a controller may provide a signal indicating a vibration, and in response the actuator will vibrate to provide a sensation of movement to the user of the device. Due to differences in manufacturing, materials and design, different actuators may operate at different voltage levels or use different signal waveforms to create the motion. As such, it is important to know the operating characteristics of any individual actuator that is in use in an electronic device. In conventional systems, there may be no way to determine these operating characteristics of an actuator without a time consuming and expensive testing process.